Parent – Teen Discussion

• About 19 million people catch an STD each year.
• About 1 out of 4 Americans currently has an STD. Out of those 19 million, about 10 million are teens.
• There are nearly 1 million teenage pregnancies in the United States each year. 53% of high school students have not had sexual intercourse.
• According to a national survey, two-thirds of teens who have had sexual intercourse wish they had waited.

You have the opportunity to pre-order a parent-teen discussion book complete with an interactive video that will allow open discussion between you and your child. Your child will be placed in a realistic age-appropriate scenario where they choose the outcome. This opens the door for you to understand why your child chooses a certain outcome, and sets up the opportunity for you to share your thoughts and expectations to your child.

Do you know that when parents tell their teenager they want them to wait, their son or daughter is more likely to wait?

Your child really does want to hear what YOU think about sex. Really!

• 9 out of 10 teens (94%) think that adults should let teens know they should wait to have sex at least until they get out of high school.
• Nearly 9 out of 10 (88%) teens say it would be easier to avoid early sexual activity and teen pregnancy if they were able to have more open, honest conversations about these topics with their parents.
• 6 out of 10 (59%) teens say their parents are their role models of healthy, responsible relationships.

You don’t have to know everything about teens and sex. What you really need to know is how to talk to your child, pre-teen or teen about what you believe. It is best to talk early and often. It’s never too early to start the conversation. And it’s never too late.

When your child is young, it’s important talk about love and relationships. Talk about respecting other people and respecting yourself. When your son or daughter becomes a pre-teen, it is important to talk about your values on dating, boyfriend and girlfriend relationships, and waiting to have sex.

Once your son or daughter is a teenager, the conversation continues. Keep talking, as he or she gets older, about sex, relationships, and making healthy choices. You should also talk about the importance of avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Let them know you are available to talk and to listen.

Did you know that about one out of every three 9th graders has had sexual intercourse at least once? There’s another thing we know. Even the best parents cannot know what their son or daughter is doing all of the time. You don’t really want friends or television or music videos or the Internet teaching your son or daughter about sex, do you? Of course not – only you can tell your son or daughter how you think he or she should behave. Only you can tell your son or daughter that you want him or her to wait.